“The writing lessons were invaluable, covering material and strategies I had never learned in school.”

Ryan
Chung, then a sophomore at Manhasset High School in Long Island, NY,
attended the 2015 TCR Summer Program and wrote an account of his
experience for Imagine magazine. You can read a copy of his article, "Historians in Training" here.

Congratulations to Grace Lu

Congratulations to Grace Lu, the alumna of TCR Summer Program 2016, who has just been published in the Summer 2018 issue of The Concord Review. Grace is a rising senior at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico, Virginia, and President and Founder of Mini Golf for Food, a national student campaign to end hunger in America. She wrote her paper, “Great Leap Forward” (on Mao Zedong’s push for industrialization and more efficient food production in China) as part of our summer program in Boston. About her experience with TCR Summer 2016, she writes:“I learned so much from those two weeks and am so glad that I had the opportunity to do such. I grew in my writing and research abilities immensely, and cannot imagine who I would be without having had this intensive venture into history. The program showed me how to research and convey my ideas effectively--a skill that I was lacking before the program. My writing has improved 1,000 fold because of these two weeks; likewise, the program furthered my love for writing and history, and expanded my perspective on the global issue of hunger… The Concord Review and its summer program have played such big roles in my life, and I am so glad that I was able to interact with such amazing teachers and like-minded peers. I hope that I can spread my love of history and inspire others through my paper when it is published!

There's still time to sign up for this year's summer program! Register now at: tcr.org/summer

From Our Alumni:

2017

“I think that overall, the TCR Summer Program was a mind-opening experience for me. I was actually a bit nervous, because not only were there few people in Session #1 but also because there were only high school students in this part of the program. However, the lack of people in Session #1 actually played to my advantage, as I got to know these upper and underclassmen better, whether it was through peer-editing/revising in the library or even eating dinner together as a group. Academically, I feel as if I had the opportunity to really use my researching skills (ie. at Brandeis library) and to really organize myself in terms of collating different resources – that was actually a part I looked forward to doing/improving in. After all, with Google itself offering so many resources (as well as Brandeis' separate library resource collection), it was going to be hard curating and selecting certain sources (while determining their relevance, usefulness, accuracy, etc.). Aside from the coursework, I think that the trips near Boston and to other towns/provinces really got me excited about the program, too – even things that were non-academic like eating a meal at a great Mexican restaurant was something that I definitely will remember from this TCR experience. Once again, thank you and all others who helped me during my experience at the TCR Summer Program!”

~ Brian Son, TCR Summer Program 2017

2016

“I grew tremendously from the experience and learned tons. It quite literally encouraged me to ‘fly’ out of my comfort zone and to break free of traditional high school writing norms.”

~ Kyle Yuan, TCR Summer Program 2016

2015

“I attended The Concord Review Summer Program in 2015, a two-week pilot program at the time. I am not at all surprised that this summer's program will be held in three different cities across the world. The TCR Summer Program presented an enriching and enjoyable experience filled with reading and writing history. I had always loved reading, from The Economist magazine articles to nonfiction books, but the TCR Summer Program allowed me better understand how the sources I'd been reading were brought about. During that week, I began a research journey of my own.

The session schedule included blocks of lessons, research, and writing. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays began with engaging and interactive lectures. We had all come in with a solidified idea of our topics and some background reading and pre-research complete. Our instructor, Harvard history major Samantha Wesner, first helped us understand and break down the seemingly insurmountable task that lay ahead of us, submitting a paper for The Concord Review. The lessons, which both guided our research processes and contextualized our entire endeavor, were extremely helpful. We learned about concept mapping, note-taking strategies, Chicago citation standards, and, my personal favorite, historiography.

Our endeavors in historiography, or the study of historical writing, involved closely examining sources to determine the author's bias, reveal varying interpretations, and trace overarching historical ideas and themes. We learned about considering the words of the source in the context of the time period and the other preceding or following events. Most importantly, our exposure to historiography opened up a meticulous mindset that we applied not just to our sources, but also to our topics. On the Tuesday and Thursday blocks for individual research, we approached our topics with sharper analytical lenses, looking deeper into our topics and finding more subtleties and nuances.

The other students in the class were eager and willing to learn, and our committed mindset allowed our instructor to push us further. I enjoyed the challenge of finding more primary sources when I was advised to wean off secondary ones. I enjoyed the challenge of unifying my analysis and expansive topic under one condensed thesis.

I loved the serious nature of the class. That's not to say it wasn't fun – no, we took nature walks every day, ate lunch together, watched movies, and even visited the historic site of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the site of the "shot heard around the world." We bounced ideas off each other, edited each others' papers, and learnt from each other.

If you enjoy history, or if you think there's more to history than just the two-to-three page papers you're doing for history class, the TCR Summer Program is the place for you. If you want to be surrounded with bright, like-minded students interested in investigating the past, the TCR Summer Program is the place for you.”

~ Ishwar Mukherjee, TCR Summer Program 2015

Last year's students liked:

Personalized attention from instructors

"What I liked the most about this program is the 1:1 consultation with the instructors. Through some direct conversation, I was able to explore some in-depth knowledge about topics I didn't know about, and I also appreciated the respective tone that the instructors had."

"I thought that the quality of feedback that I received during the program was great. All the instructors were very knowledgeable and experts in their field."

"I loved the fact that I was able to ask questions whenever I wanted, and that there was always someone there who would be there to help me with my work and anything I had a problem with."

"I really appreciated the fact that the teachers took the time to answer questions outside of class and took the time to schedule individual meeting times"

It was a great opportunity to get suggestions and feedback about my writing skills from a variety of people."

Independent work and freedom to explore

"I liked the undistracted free time that we had to write "

"I liked the freedom we had to explore multiple topics and how much the instructors were interested and knowledgeable about whatever we chose."

"I feel like the fact that we get to independently work was most valuable about the program… I was surprised when the teachers let us investigate the topics on our own, and during conferences, they asked me about what topic I wanted to do or what I was interested in researching. "

"The most meaningful part of the camp was that I could independently conduct my research. Rather than using the concepts I already know, I could go above and beyond my area of knowledge and learn interesting facts I have never thought of. As I applied the information I collected to my paper, I could also enhance my critical reading skills. "

A diverse toolbox of new skills

"What I liked the most about the program is that we got to go the National Library of Korea and actually research; all the stuff we learned about how to write helped as well."

"It was helpful to get a lesson about how to write a history essay before I actually start my IB in the school. [I especially benefitted from learning] how to use footnotes and find 'good' resources to support the idea that I want to tell to the readers."

"I learned how to improve my organization and note-taking skills"

"I learned a lot about Chicago style citation, as well as how to research in a college library."

"I learned some basic words and or phrases I should avoid using, and I also learned how to find and use information from library books."

"I learned some good skills on note-taking, writing introduction/body/conclusion paragraphs, finding scholarly sources, and making revisions on the paper."

"I learned how to write a history research paper-- all from beginning to an end. It was a very useful time, and will help me a LOT later on when I'm writing another research paper."

"I learned how to write a historical research paper using various credible sources. Before the program, I knew that there were structures for writing, but I never thought it was valuable to follow those structures. During this program, however, I learned the importance of sentence and paragraph structures."

"I found that the most valuable part of the program was that I learned how to create a powerful thesis. I struggled with this often, but now I think I fully know about how to create one based on finding a good question."

A new experience for the future

"I had never written a history paper before, so I found that this program was especially helpful for a fresh start."

"I found learning how to structure an essay was the most valuable thing to know. My whole format of writing has changed!"

"I liked the trip to the National Library of Korea the most. Before the trip, I always wondered how researchers read through old documents and make analysis of them. I also wanted to have a chance to read physical sources as I mainly read internet sources so far."

"I liked how we all bonded as a whole during this program; it allowed me to meet many new people that I wouldn't have been able to meet otherwise"

"I learned many useful techniques about analyzing primary and secondary sources, as well as techniques that will improve my writing in High School and beyond."

"I found the knowledge and friendships gained at this program to be incredibly valuable."

The opportunity to complete something that I would never have had the motivation or resources to do on my own."

"This summer program dwarfs what I've done so far in my history classes at school"